L'Equipe is saying that Philippe Mexès, Patrice Evra and Samir Nasri are out, to be replaced by Eric Abidal, Gaël Clichy, and Yoann Gourcuff.

Yeah, I know. Me too.

On the plus side, it looks like Eric Abidal may get the opportunity to redeem himself as a central defender!

Click to continue reading...

Here's the list for our World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Austria. These games make me nervous. After watching Austria in Euros, I'm thinking that they especially are underrated and could deliver a shock. (Like they did in that friendly with Italy last week. As my co-blogger Chris said, they scored four goals!

Click to continue reading...

Les Bleus will be traveling to Sweden for a friendly on August 20th, a game which will hopefully get the team ready for the World Cup qualifiers that will be starting soon.

There a lot of old faces on the squad, but there are also some players missing, including Franck Ribery and Francois Clerc, who are out injured, and Samir Nasri and Eric Abidal, who were dropped entirely.

Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona and MalariaNoMore.org are teaming up today for a special charity event on the upper west side - and you are invited!

The "More Than A Game" event will feature a 4 v 4 tournament, with teams including Thierry Henry, Eric Abidal, Xavi Hernandez, Rafael Marquez, Carlos Puyol, Iniesta, Bojan and Daniel Alves.

Click to continue reading...

Disclaimer: I know that it's been a week now since Hatem Ben Arfa left Lyon for Marseille. Both John and Magnusson have covered this topic very thoroughly, so most of you are probably tired of hearing about it.

But I just can't let this go.

Click to continue reading...

Luca Toni's topping the charts again... only this time, it isn't very flattering. English tabloid The Sun just dished out another Top 10 list, regrouping the "Biggest flops" of this Summer's Euro championship tournament. The Italy striker tops the list, despite receiving a pat on the back from Bayern Munich chairman Karl Heinz Rummenigge. Click to continue reading...

Marcel Desailly on Eric Abidal's red card playing for France versus Italy in the Euro 2008 group stage:

Ray Stubbs: "Was it a sending off for you Marcel?"Marcel Desailly: "No, it has ruined the game."Stubbs: "But surely it was a goal-scoring opportunity."Desailly: "Yes, but he is not usually a centre-back so he cannot be blamed for this mistake by the referee. Click to continue reading...

Please tell me this didn't happen right after the sending off. (I think it did.) I'm not an Italy fan, but I've always thought of Cannavaro as a class act. I'd hate to think I'm wrong here. But the text with the photo said: France's Eric Abidal, Click to continue reading...

Since I'm in an "uploading-pictures" kind of mood, here are selected snapshots of Euro 2008's France vs. Italy match two days ago. Emphasis on "selected" (i.e. by me, because I thought they were funny and because I just can). Also, since every self-respecting picture should include a caption, I have provided two for each. Click to continue reading...

Arsene Wenger gets his man The next Zidane, eh. That would be Samir Nasri, the 20-year-old French midfielder who made a very brief cameo appearance from the bench against Italy, only to be taken off when Eric Abidal was shown... Click to continue reading...

Many have said that Raymond Domenech is mental. Leaving Phillipe Mexes at home with his feet up, bringing Samir Nasri on and then off again about four seconds later, playing Eric Abidal at centre back. All these things were wrong wrong wrong.

If we were to sit down and try to conjure a visual metaphor that illustrates Raymond Domenech's Euro 2008 performance, we couldn't be able come up with anything better than this.

Click to continue reading...

David Ornstein writing for the BBC on the failure of the French national team at Euro 2008:

The 56-year-old also turned to players such as Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Eric Abidal, who had all struggled for form with their clubs. There was considerable anger in France that the likes of in-form. Click to continue reading...

Italy 2-0 France
Au revoir, mes enfants. You got the feeling it wasn't going to be France's day when Franck Ribery had to go off injured after just 8 minutes, having messed up his ankle in by getting tangled up with Gianluca Zambrotta. Ribery has been one of the few bright spots for France in this tournament, although I do think that Samir Nasri, who came on as his replacement, deserved more playing time as well. Click to continue reading...

This so-called Group O'Death sputtered into the final matchday with one team already through somewhat surprisingly - not too many non-Dutch fans or French/Italian haters were picking them to win both their first games by that margin - and Romania, of all teams, was in control of their destiny. The most anticipated game of the tournament, France - Italy, could've wound up being nothing more than a friendly.

Click to continue reading...

Italy 2, France 0
Holland 2, Romania 0

What was expected to be one of the tournament's signature matches was a bit of a letdown, but you won't hear Italian fans complaining. The Azurri earned a spot in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over France, combined with Romania's 2-0 loss to Holland. Click to continue reading...

Italy 2, France 0
Holland 2, Romania 0

What was expected to be one of the tournament's signature matches was a bit of a letdown, but you won't hear Italian fans complaining. The Azurri earned a spot in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over France, combined with Romania's 2-0 loss to Holland. Click to continue reading...

Thierry Henry loves to get cute in front of goal. All flashes and finesse touches. And today he scored a stunning goal just that way. Unfortunately, it was into his own goal as he stuck out an instinctive foot to a Daniel De Rossi free kick and deflected it neatly into the right hand corner.

Click to continue reading...

France 0-2 Italy. Ladies & gentlemen, this is how you mix a "Blue Lagoon": 1 oz Vodka (Pirlo), 1 oz Blue Curaçao (De Rossi), cherry (Buffon's save on Benzema), 1 part Lemonade. Don't have any lemonade? We'll settle for some Oranje zest (Huntelaar and Van Persie). The Azzurri's Euro 2008 adventure continues to the Quarter-Finals. Click to continue reading...

The final day of the Group of Death meant one thing for Italy and France: win or go home. And even if they won, they weren't assured of moving on. If Romania defeated Holland, they would have been through to the second round in the first major tournament we have qualified for in eight years.

Click to continue reading...

It's a question on the minds of many United supporters as they watch their favourite players perform at Euro 2008. Evra's club manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, rates him highly. "Patrice has been a key part of the club's success in the last two seasons," he said. "He has developed into one of the best full-backs in world football.

Click to continue reading...

If you're currently standing, find somewhere to sit down because this news will knock you off your feet. Domenech - our dear, stubborn, complex, somewhat irrational manager - is considering making four changes to his lineup for Friday. That's right. FOUR. According to Domenech, he doesn't want to destabilize his defense Click to continue reading...

Group C is the most widely talked about group of the entire tournament. With three world superpowers in it, at least one will be going home. Romania rounds out the group with an interesting side, composing of former Chelsea and current Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu.

Romania vs. France
12:00pm EST on ESPN2
This game shouldn't even be close. Click to continue reading...

Since it's May 28 and all the Euro 2008 rosters have been finalized, let's take a look at Italy's biggest rivals from Group C. It may be called the "Group of Death", but I am talking of course about France. Coach Raymond Domenech had already made a "Pre-selection" list of 30 players some weeks ago, eventually cutting [. Click to continue reading...

It's fair to say that the Red Devils are playing Barcelona in the Champions League at exactly the right time. While their passage to the Moscow final against Liverpool or Chelsea is far from guaranteed, surely Manchester United won't have a better opportunity to beat the Catalan club, who are struggling badly at the moment. Click to continue reading...

This is the first in a series of quick profiles of some of the clubs involved in this year's Champions League. We start with a look at defending Ligue Une champions Olympique Lyonnais.

As in past seasons, Lyon have watched some of their top talents leave for "bigger" clubs (though higher wages and lower taxes are generally believed to be a contributing factor). Click to continue reading...